The present invention relates to conveyor systems capable of diverting objects from a high speed conveyor to one or more diverting conveyors and, more particularly, to conveyor systems with switch assemblies capable of diverting selected objects being carried at high speeds by the main conveyor to a diverting conveyor.
In the quest for high speed sortation of packages and the like to various and different destinations, increasing use is being made of central or main conveyors coupled with bar code reading devices and with one or more diverting conveyors. As selected objects identified by the bar code readers approach a diverting conveyor path, object diverting shoes associated with the main conveyor are activated, move across the main conveyor path, and guide the selected objects to a selected diverting conveyor. The shoes move with the conveying surface but are caused by a switching mechanism, when activated, to slide across the conveying surface along a diagonal guide path toward a diverting conveyor. Various mechanically operated switches are typically used to cause the shoes to be diverted from a normal forward movement to move laterally across the conveyor path. At high conveyor speeds, the time window for the switch assembly to be activated and divert selected shoes to the diagonal guide path is very small, less than about 16 milliseconds. While there are mechanical movement switch assemblies that can accomplish this, such assemblies tend to be complex and expensive. Moreover, those assemblies add significantly to the noise of the conveyor operation because of the mechanical movement.
It is therefore a paramount object of the present invention to provide for a simple switch that can be activated and deactivated well within the time window required by today's high speed sorting and/or diverting conveyors. It is still another important object of the present invention to provide for a switch usable with such conveyors but limiting the level of the noise added by the operation of the switch assembly and shoes. These and other objects will become apparent following a reading of the accompanying description and drawings.